Devil's Miner - Der Berg des Teufels

Without film, we could never have The Devil's Miner. Magazines, books, photos, songs, and stories cannot convey the raw emotion and the broad story like a film can.

The story is of a Bolivian boy from Potosi who must work as a miner to help support his family. One of the main ideas captured in the film is the dichotomy between the surface world and the mine. The surface world is ruled by Jesus, but within the mine, the miners are at the mercy of the "Tio," or the devil. This framing device actually gives more direct meaning to the story: the miners have become subjugated to the earth and to the devil.

What's refreshing in this story is that there's no mustache-twirling evil businessman enslaving these miners. The evil is in the earth itself, both above and below the surface. The mine conspires to kill the miners, rob them of light and of their lungs and limbs, while the outside world also shows no mercy to the miners, as they are forced to work to make a living. The film doesn't portray this as some social evil, the rich preying on the weak, but rather the fallen world preying on its inhabitants. Whether or not the devil is real, the film obviously communicates that the miners, and by extension, all of us, are at the mercy of a fallen earth.

This documentary is nicely shot, and makes its audience feel uncomfortable in all the right ways. It makes you see and feel the situation. It's what documentary is all about.

The film doesn't have much re-watch value and is not especially influential, so I don't feel good giving anything more than an 8, but definitely a great film.

This is an excellently made documentary. The visual quality of the film has a fresh, live look. The beauty of Bolivia is contrasted with a horrifying story being told about the silver mines and miners of the Cerro Rico Mountain in Bolivia, a mountain called, "The Mountain that Eats Men." It is a film about one of the real hells that exists on our planet -- the plight of miners. There are over 5,000 Indios working at one of the 500 miner owned cooperatives on Cerro Rico, which has been mined for over 450 years. It is estimated that over 8 million have died in the mines. Most of the miners die in their forties from silicosis, a debilitating lung disease contracted from inhaling too much dust; others die from explosions, cave-ins and falling rocks.

Each mine has its own evil god called a "Tio" (a corruption of the word "Dio") a devil god that must be respected to avoid an early death, and to hopefully help them find more silver. As explained by the miners, the Tio was created by the so-called 'Christian' Conquistadores to quite literally put 'the fear of the devil" into them. It worked. They still worship and give reverence to the Tios.

The miners know they will not live very long because of silicosis. One shot shows their graveyard. They know they are sacrificing themselves for their families; they feel proud to be miners, so that they can help their families, and Bolivia! Contrast this with so many young people here in America who gladly sacrifice their families for their own self serving pleasure, and you get an awakening about how mature and heroic the narrator of the film, the 14 year old miner Basilio is.

He narrates the movie. You can't help but get really drawn into the film. It's mostly the story of Basilio, his brother Bernardo and their mother. There are many touching scenes with Basilio interacting with others. He talks to miners about Tio, and to Bernardo about their dreams of leaving the mines. He wants to be a teacher, and Bernardo wants to be a civil engineer.

However, in order to make more money, he goes to work at a different and more dangerous mine, where the boss sees him as his pick to grow up to be a drilling master. He's actually condemning him to death, since the person who does the pneumatic drilling inhales the most dust and will surely die from silicosis. Condemned in die in blinding dust, dreams of living destroyed.

As noted by others above, fortunately, Basilo and his brother were rescued from the mines by the filmmakers, and are now able to live full time normal lives away from the mines.

Part of the excellence of the film is that it is in no way judgmental about its subject: it does not have a voice over narration telling us anything, nor any didactic juxtapositioning of images nor Michael Moore trying to get into the offices of presidents of American silver import companies, but rather lets the actual natives of the city of Potosi tell their own story. It does not place blame, but leaves that to us as viewers.

This is the way documentaries should be made, practically as tightly edited 'slice of life'. It's also the kind of film we need to see to remind us, that while we sit here in comfort at our computers, we are living off the blood, sweat and toil of the world's masses; standing on the backs of the poor, the exploited and the dead. Check out the Internet for fact articles on miner's lung diseases. You'll be shocked at how many are dying not just in Bolivia or the United States, but also in China.

Good documentaries like this one let the story speak for itself. I give it an 8.

Yes, this documentary is about poor, fatherless children who must work in the hazardous mines to support their families. I won't go into a lot of detail about the specifics of the film--you can find that in other user comments. There are multitudes of documentaries detailing the sad stories the less fortunate members of the world are forced to live every day. So what? What makes this movie different?

Two things: 1) the incredible maturity and strength of character of Basilio Vargas (the 14 year old miner the documentary is centered around) and 2) the expert way the filmmakers let the story tell itself instead of force-feeding the viewer pity and guilt.

I am not a filmmaker, but I think it took a great deal of wisdom for them to realize that this young man could relate the story on his own better than any amount of narration or scripted propaganda. Basilio is heroic, mature, a dreamer with goals and aspirations, a fatherless child, a father to his siblings, a breadwinner for the family, and he never complains about any of it.

Watching this film makes you want to comfort Basilio and then get down on your knees and ask God for forgiveness for being such an ungrateful and spoiled Westerner. Somehow though, you come away from it wishing you could show it to everyone you know, and wishing you could tell Basilio how much you admire him.

The devil's minor is one of the best documentary I have seen yet. I saw it's premiere at the Tribeca Film festival April 28, 2005. I wanted to see as many Spanish movies at the festival as I could. This film was one of them. As I read the description of the movie, I thought it was interesting. When I saw that it was from both USA and Germany, I paused for a second and said Germany, okay! Watching the film, I give all respect and congratulations to both directors. They told the story of 14 year old Basilio, his brother and mother and their struggle to support the family so beautifully. I must say the film quality and shots were great especially under the cave. The way they shot the cave scenes, it made you feel as if you were Basilio working and walking inside the caves. This film was surprising. Being Spanish and catholic myself, I had no idea people would actually worship the devil for protection under the caves. I found it very odd and difficult to understand how the people would go to church and worship God one minute then turn around and worship the devil the next. I know that I am very LUCKY to have the things that I do, however, I believe watching this film will truly show people just how lucky they have it. Imagine working 24 hours a day in the USA and only earning 3 dollars. Imagine supporting 4 people on that. All that hard dangerous work just so that someone can walk to a store and buy that ring so put in their finger or earrings to wear in their ear. All the lives that are lost for that. Unimaginable. I strongly urge those in the position to help those that are not as fortunate to do so. The shots that were filmed, the sky, mountain, people were beautiful. Thank you Kief and Richard for showing us a part of Bolivia many of us were not aware of and have not seen. Thank you for taking the time after the movie to stay and talk to us to answer question what we had. Congratulations once again.

There are a number of excellent films about children available. This is a new one, and certainly merits attentions. It is a very moving study of the lives of children who every day face a very harsh reality. These children work in the silver mines of Potosi, Bolivia, famed for the terrible acts of depredations perpetrated on the Native Americans by the Spanish colonial powers. This is both a wrenching study of kids willingness to do what must be done to survive as well as a fantastic statement about their strength and hope. Thanks to the film and the notoriety that went with it and the support of child advocacy groups, the story has a happy ending. If you saw and were impressed by such films as Death in Gaza or Promises, which also depict children suffering at the hands of adults in today's world, you will be equally moved by this one.